Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places
by Knife Hand
Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done. Chapter 5 up
1. Chapter 1

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

Xander was wandering around Ethan's Costume Shop, trying to think of a new costume idea now that the last of the toy guns had gone. He turned a corner and ran into an irate Cordelia Chase, holding a bag with a costume in it.

"Jeez, look where you are going Harris." She said with her usual superior tone.

"Cordy. What are you doing in a place like this?" Xander replied, long since having gotten use to Queen C's attitude.

"Like I have a choice, dweebabzoid. I had an amazing costume all lined up at Party Town and then they had to go and get flooded, leaving me slumming at this place." The Cheerleader said before pushing past Xander and out of the store.

"Hey Xander. Was that…?" Buffy said from behind him.

Buffy and Willow had come up behind him, Willow giving him a small wave.

"Hey Buff, Wills. Yeah, lovely breath of vile air, she was… woah!" Xander responded.

They had just turned into another isle and Xander was awed at the costumes he saw in front of him. Willow seemed excited while Xander simply stood in shock.

"Ahh, I see you have excellent taste in Science Fiction." A man said from behind them.

"Holy Hell!" Buffy exclaimed. "Don't do that. It'll get you killed around here."

"My most sincere apologies." The man said. "My name is Ethan Rayne, The proprietor of this establishment. Let me make it up to you by selling those three costumes to you are half price, but only if you take all three."

"Done!" Willow squeaked.

* * *

Buffy was actually quite impressed with the costumes that they had gotten from the slightly creepy costume store owner. They were in shades of black, gray and dark red, were loose in the right places to allow for freedom of movement when running or fighting but were tight enough in others that they would not interfere with strikes or footwork. Plus the coat just made it look cool, again without interfering much with fighting. On the right breast was a greenish jewel that seemed surrounded by to figures that were joined at the bottom. The only part of the costume that Buffy could not figure out was the small metal cylinder that was at her waist.

Buffy had originally been drawn to a beautiful flowing gown, the kind she imagined had once been warn by the Nobility when Angel had been young, but then Willow had reminded her that most of the Noble Ladies in those days had been uneducated and forced to follow the whims of their husbands, which had immediately offended her modern independent nature. She had spent quite a while convincing Willow not to go as a ghost and in the end they had agreed that Willow would go for a less… concealing outfit if Buffy would wear a costume that both Willow and Xander approved of. She had half expected to be in skin-tight spandex or a revealing outfit that barely avoided her being arrested for indecent exposure. Compared to that this outfit and the matching ones worn by Xander and Willow were a joy.

Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over Buffy Summers. Kathrin Templeton straitened from her stumble and looked at the carnage around her. Everyone and everything around her looked confused. It looked like there were people out of time, aliens she had never seen before and things she could not even explain running everywhere, some trying to get away and others looking for a fight. Without thought she drew her Fighting Pike and extended it from its collapsed form into a full sized Quarterstaff.

"This is Shok-na Kathrin Templeton of White Star 43, does any Anla'Shok receive." She said into her communicator.

One of the aggressive little… whatever's made a run at her and she broke its wrist and knocked its feet out from under it with her Pike, causing the others to scatter.

"This is Shok-na Laura Weston, White Star 22. I have your position, am converging." A female voice came on the radio.

"Shok-na Joseph White here. White Star 11. Got a lock on you both but can not locate any of my crew." A male voice added.

"This is Shok-na Jennifer Smyth." A very confident female voice said. "White Star 19. I have run a personal communications check and I can only locate our four communicators. ETA to Shok-na Templeton's position, two minutes."

Soon the four Anla'Shok had converged and were boldly holding a conference in the middle of the street, many of the more aggressive entities around having learnt from experience that they were not to be messed with. Laura Weston was a lean woman with dark red hair, Joseph White was a taller man with slightly messy black hair and soulful brown eyes while Jennifer Smyth was a tall, lithe woman with long dark brown hair.

"Ok, so what exactly are four White Star Captains doing in what appears to be a small town on Earth without their crews?" Joseph asked.

"I don't know, but I modified my com unit to do a forced ping. There are four White Stars in orbit but no responses from any crew." Laura said. "I did mange to get a signal through to White Star 22's computer to do a local space scan for possible threats and it came back negative."

"Negative? Around Earth? What about the planetary defence grid?" Kathrin asked, shocked.

"Nothing. No debris, no intact defence satellites. It's like they're just gone." Laura replied.

"Or were never there." Jennifer said, getting incredulous looks. "I'm no expert but the stars do not look the same as when I was a girl. And I am pretty sure that star went supernova about seventy years before I was born."

They all stared up at the sky where Jennifer was pointing.

"She is right." Joseph said.

"Time Travel?" Laura asked.

"Why not?" Kathrin replied. "If you believe the report of Entil'Zha Delenn, then Entil'Zha Sinclair went back a thousand years and became Valan."

"So what do we do?" Jennifer asked.

"We're Rangers." Joseph replied. "We do what we swore to do. We live for the One."

"We die for the One." All four chorused.

* * *

It was the morning after the chaos of Halloween and the Library of Sunnydale High found itself occupied by five figures. Unsurprisingly one was the Librarian Rupert Giles. Also unsurprisingly three of the others were Buffy, Xander and Willow, all of whom spent so much time in the library that most of the students considered it to be their second home. The surprise was Cordelia Chase, because if you asked any of the popular students she would rather die than be either spend time in the library or hang out with the others in the room, but Halloween had changed all that.

"So let me see if I have the information straight." Giles said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "All four of you now have the memories and skills of Starship Captains from a Science Fiction television program?"

"Not just Captain. Anla'Shok Shok'na." Xander replied, leaving Giles even more confused.

"The Anla'Shok, or Rangers, are…" Buffy began. "I guess the best description is a mix between Special Forces and Undercover Police. Traditionally Rangers have been used to go into unexplored and dangerous places and find out what is there and battle anything that threatens civilisation. _We walk in dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass._"

"Think of them as well trained Space versions of us." Willow said.

"And we have kickass ships. The White Stars." Cordelia added.

"You mean actual…?" Giles began.

"Of course." Cordy replied. "We wouldn't be Shok'na without our ships. The problem is there are no crew."

"Good Lord." Giles said, taking off his glasses and began to clean them.

"We have White Star 19 hidden in an abandoned Warehouse. We have the others on station on Luna's dark side, Mars orbit and Io orbit, to advanced warning of any approaching vessels." Xander explained.

"Approaching from where?" Giles asked.

"Well, in their universe, there were hundreds of different species, including the major races of the Minbari, Narn and Centauri." Willow said. "Just based solely on the number of stars in the visible universe, even if one in a million stars had a planet, one in a million of those planets were habitable and one in a million of those habitable worlds had life, then there would be dozens of other species out there."

"This is just so overwhelming." Giles said, amazed.

"Demons you take in your stride, Aliens you have a problem with?" Buffy retorted, amused.

* * *

It was a few weeks after Halloween and Xander was doing a quick patrol of one of the graveyards. Things had been fairly quiet, and they had even found an advantage over the nocturnal residents in the form of their Minbari Fighting Pikes. With the long heritage of each Pike, and the reverence they had been afforded by generations wielders, they affected Vampires and several types of demons like they were the holiest of relics, burning them with the slightest touch and killing them with ease. After confirming on White Star 19 that the uniforms and Fighting Pikes for a full crew complement of 50 were aboard the White Stars, the four Captains had decided to start training recruits to be new Rangers.

The first four recruits had been selected by Cordelia, two being from her Cheerleading squad, one from the Swimming team and one from the Football team. Naturally all were quite fit, but they were also in the top third of their class and were all dedicated to helping others, the cheerleaders and the swimmer were part of a program that helped under privileged communities in LA on the weekends while the football player was part of the Big Brother mentoring program.

The only major issues, both of them dealt with quickly, had involved people from the Gang's past, in the form of Billy Fordham, who was dying of brain cancer and thought becoming a vampire was the solution, and a literal demon from Giles' past. Both incidents ended with a fighting pike through the chest of the offending entity, Billy by Xander's and Eyghon by Buffy and Cordy's.

Now, for normal patrols at least, each of the four Shok'na was more than enough to deal with regular Sunnydale activity, thus cutting down the time it took to patrol the numerous graveyards in the town dramatically.

"You can come out now." Xander said as he stopped without warning in the middle of his patrol. "And you can explain why you have been following me for the last ten minutes."

A dark skinned girl stepped out of the bushes with her long black hair in a tight braid. She moved like a fighter and had a stake in her hand.

"I though you might be a Vampire but I am not sure. I can not feel you." she replied in a Jamaican accent.

"No. I am Anla'Shok. We fight the dark." Xander replied. "And who are you?"

"I am Kendra, the Vampire Slayer." The girl replied.

"Of course you are. Come, we will go see the local Watcher." Xander replied.

"You know a Watcher, and the last Slayer?" Kendra said, surprised.

"Yes. She is Anla'Shok too." Xander said as he turned in the direction of the Library.

Kendra looked confused. One Slayer dies, the next is Called, but this man indicated the last Slayer was still alive. Noticing that he was not stopping, Kendra hurried to catch up to this… Anla'Shok.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

Kendra was in a mild state of shock when she entered the Library behind the boy claiming to be Anla'Shok. There were eight other people in the room. Behind the counter was an older man dressed in a tweed suit, who she presumed was the Watcher. Around the table in the middle of the room were four students, two male and two female, all dressed in simple black pants and tops, who were repeating a series of strange words that a blonde, in an outfit the same as the Anla'Shok, was reading out from a blackboard. A redhead, again in what Kendra presumed was the Anla'Shok uniform, was sitting and typing at the solitary computer in the entire room while a long haired brunette Anla'Shok sat on one of the sets of stairs leading up to the book stacks with a large tome in her hands.

"Giles, we have a guest." The male Anla'Shok said.

The blond said something to the four students, who all stood, bowed and then left, while the others congregated around the now vacated table.

"And who are you?" the Watcher, Giles apparently, asked.

"My name is Kendra, the Vampire Slayer." Kendra replied.

"She was following me on my patrol of West Glades." The male Anla'Shok said. "She thought I might have been a Vamp."

"Really?" Giles said, surprised. "May I ask why you thought that Xander was a Vampire?"

"It was the way he moved, sir. The only other time I have seen something move like that it was a Master Vampire."

"Yes, I must admit the four of have quite… fluid gaits, when you want." Giles said.

"Of course we do." The brunette said. "We're Rangers."

"Perhaps introductions are in order." Giles said. "Firstly, this is Xander Harris."

"Hey." Xander said, casually.

"Next is Willow Rosenberg." The Watcher continued.

The redhead, Willow, simply smiled and waved.

"Cordelia Chase." Giles said, indicating to the brunette. "And Buffy Summers, who is also a Vampire Slayer."

"Welcome to the club." Buffy, the blond, said with a smile.

"I mean no disrespect, but should you not be…?" Kendra asked.

"Dead? Yeah, well I got better, with a little help from my friends." Buffy replied.

"They all want to be called Rangers, or Shok'na, or Anla'Shok, or something." Giles said with a confused tone.

"Really simple, G-man." Xander said, grinning as Giles rolled his eyes. "Our order is called Rangers in English and Anla'Shok in Minbari. Our rank is Shok'na, which roughly translates to Captain."

"And you fight Vampires? Like a Slayer does?" Kendra asked.

"We fight the Darkness, whatever form it may take." Buffy replied.

"As our Order has done for a thousand years." Cordelia added.

"Then it would be an honour to fight by your side." Kendra said, solemnly.

"Welcome to Sunnyhell." Xander said with a grin.

Cordelia rolled her eyes before reaching over and smacking him on the back of the head.

"She's not a puppy. You can't keep her." Cordelia said.

"Come on, Cordy." Xander said with 'puppy dog eyes'. "She's house trained and trained to fight Vampires, and…."

Xander was cut off by Willow putting her hand over his mouth.

"Ignore him." Buffy said. "Most of the time his training stops him from being a complete idiot. Unfortunately this was not one of those times."

"Ewww." Willow said, removing her hand from Xander's mouth and rubbing it on her pants. "That was gross Xander. Next time I'll let you get killed by an irate Slayer."

"I do not understand." Kendra said.

"Xander just licked Willow's hand." Buffy said, and then noted Kendra's still confused expression. "Never mind. So… you prefer staking or decapitation?"

* * *

"Mum. I'm home." Buffy called as she walked in. "And I brought a friend."

Kendra followed close behind Buffy as the senior Slayer gave her a quick tour.

"Lounge Room. Kitchen and Dining Room." Buffy said, dropping her collapsed Pike on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

"Buffy, how many times do I have to tell you, no weapons on the table." Joyce said, and Buffy removed the Pike and clipped it to her belt. "Hello, my name is Joyce."

"Hello, Mrs Summers. My name is Kendra." Kendra said.

"She's a Slayer, Mum. Like me." Buffy said.

"You told your Mother?" Kendra asked, surprised. "It is supposed to be a secret."

"Yeah. So what, it's Sunnydale. You know what's out there or you die." Buffy replied. "So, mum, is it cool if Kendra stays here? It's that or a motel."

"Of course." Joyce replied. "You're welcome to stay in the spare room, Kendra."

"Sweet." Buffy said. "Let's get you settled. We'll get you some new clothes at the mall tomorrow."

Buffy led Kendra up to the spare bedroom and showed her around.

"This is amazing." Kendra said. "I have never had this much room to myself before."

"Good night, Kendra." Buffy said as she left.

* * *

Cordelia, Xander and Willow walked into the massive warehouse. It had been a branch of an aircraft manufacturer who thought a plant not to far from LA would be profitable. It would have been, had they not chosen Sunnydale. Since it was designed for aircraft manufacture, it was a single large open space some seven hundred feet long, five hundred feet wide and three hundred feet high, with faint lines on the floor that marked the different assembly stations. One entire wall of the warehouse was a single roller door. Filling the space was White Star 19. The White Star was an organic looking ship, with a low, sleek profile, that for all its size had a definite air of speed about it.

"Alright, let's do a systems check." Cordy ordered. "I'll take bridge systems. Xander, you take the engine room. Wills, check out the fighters."

"Got it." Xander replied.

The three split up and checked over the different systems. While Cordy was on the bridge, she downloaded the sensor data from the other three White Stars stationed out in the Solar System. For three experienced Captains, it did not take long for them to complete the systems and then shut the ship back down again. When they were done hey gathered back outside the ship.

"Engines check." Xander reported.

"Fighters and Shuttles are good." Willow added.

"Comms and navigation are sound." Cordy reported. "The other White Starts have had some sensor contacts with vessels in proximity of the Solar System, but they all seemed to be just passing through."

"Any idea which beacon they were headed to?" Willow asked.

"They were not standard Hyperspace signals, so we can't even be sure if they even use the standard beacon and Jump Gate system or another tech entirely." Cordelia responded.

* * *

The four Shok'na were sitting around the table in the Library, for once without the presence of Giles, who was currently patrolling with Kendra to evaluate her skills.

"This sensor data is concerning." Xander said. "The signatures do not belong to any known race and it looks like they are using a different kind of FTL drive. If the FTL tech is different, then they could have other kinds of tech that we are unaware of. In combat that could be fatal."

"I agree." Cordelia added. "It underlines the need to fully crew the White Stars and probably a force of Anla'Shok to patrol the Hellmouth when the White Stars are deployed. Unfortunately I can only see another three possible recruits in Sunnydale High, and I don't think any of the adults would make suitable recruits. Possibly four if Kendra proves to have what an Anla'Shok needs."

"A hundred and fifty plus recruits are going to need a dedicated training cadre." Willow pointed out. "I mean I could most certainly write a program to scan student and psychological records to find candidates, but then we will also need a contact team and a cover story for any family for any recruits."

"I would start with candidates in the System. Foster kids, orphanages and such. It would make it easier as far as the families are concerned." Xander replied. "Perhaps even purchase one of those big mansions on the outskirts and use a private school as a cover."

"Not a bad idea." Buffy said. "We could even fund it by selling advanced computer programs. Not 2260's level, but we have archives on the White Stars of stuff from the early 2000's that would be revolutionary now. Security protocols, search functions, that kind of thing. Nothing military."

"We still have the training Cadre problem." Willow pointed out.

"With a private school, we could rotate teaching some of the classes, until we get some more advanced students. But I think Giles would make a good staff combat instructor and he is quickly picking up Minbari, so he could be at least an introductory Minbari instructor." Cordy said.

"I suggest Mrs S as an instructor and maybe on the recruit contact team." Xander put forward.

"You want Mum involved?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. She would be a friendly face for the recruits and their families. She would also be a good mother figure for the newest recruits to help them adjust." Xander replied.

"But as an instructor? What would she teach?" Buffy insisted.

"Ethics." Xander said, with a shrug. "Negotiation tactics, maybe. Spotting a lie at a hundred paces."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Xander for that comment.

"I agree in principal." Willow said. "But we would need to talk to her fist."

"Do we need the White Stars to be fully staffed by Anla'Shok?" Cordy asked. "Remember the first few White Stars were mostly crewed by the Religious Caste."

"That's because they were the only trained and available crews." Buffy pointed out. "We have no pool of trained personnel to pull from, so if we have to train up a crew anyway, they may as well be Anla'Shok."

"Agreed." Both Xander and Willow said, and Cordy just nodded.

"Any other items?" Xander asked, and all the girls shook their heads no. "Right. Wills, your job is to get that search up and running. Buffy, you and I will start selecting the programs to sell and set up a company to sell them under. Cordy, start scouting the mansions for one we can use as a school."

"I'll also come up with a name, uniform and all that for the school." Cordy said.

"At least the recruits will be well dressed." Buffy said. "But no high fashion on the PT uniforms."

Cordelia just rolled her eyes at this. At that point the meeting was officially concluded when both Giles and Kendra walked into the Library.

"I must say, Kendra, you technique is as close to perfect as I have ever seen." Giles said as he pushed opened the door.

"Thank you, Sir." Kendra replied.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

Joyce Summers looked up at the Youth Boarding House and sighed to herself, wondering how she had gotten into this position. No, wait; she knew exactly how she had gotten into this position. Her daughter was not just The Slayer, capitals included, though there was now another Slayer in the form of Kendra, but she was also Anla'Shok. With a shake of her head, the former Gallery owner took a deep breath and walked up the stairs, ringing the bell.

This was not the first place she had visited since accepting her Daughter's friends offer several weeks before, but it was still new to her. How could she have turned it down though, a chance to be a positive influence on so many young lives, not only making sure they had a shoulder to cry on, but also to make sure that they would know how to make the right decision when the time came.

The door opened to reveal a woman in ill-fitting pants and blouse; who was overweight; had long, limp brown hair and a distinct moustache on her upper lip. Joyce, on the other hand, was dressed in a smart pinstripe skirt suit and her wavy honey blonde hair perfectly framing her face.

"What do you want? We've already had our inspection." The woman replied with a slight wheezing rasp to her voice.

"I'm not here for an inspection, Miss Volus. I am Misses Summers, I represent the Sheridan Academy, an extremely exclusive private school in California. Our records indicate that you have two girls here who may qualify for admittance." Joyce began her speech. Of the half dozen places Joyce had visited in her role as Recruiter for the Sheridan Academy, this was by far the worst. Out of those six visits, there were three confirmed recruits, one who said no, one who had failed the tests and one where follow up investigations were being made due to a non-serious but potentially degenerative medical condition. This was also the first place with multiple candidates. Joyce knew that they had been lucky getting the three, possibly four, they had so far, but then again they had started with the best possible candidates, and she did not expect the strike rate to stay that high.

Miss Volus showed Joyce to a dingy and dirty living/dining room where Joyce chose to sit on one of the hard wooden chairs at the table over one of the dirty couches, gently placing her Attaché Case on the floor next to her.

"We ain't got no funds to be sending any folk to some fancy Academy." Miss Volus said defensively as she slumped into a chair.

"We understand your situation, but that will not be an issue." Joyce calmly replied. "While the entrance qualifications are extremely rigorous, all of the places at the Academy are full scholarships paid for by our benefactor."

"Who ya be wanting then?" Miss Volus asked.

"I would like to talk to Miss Hailey and Miss… I believe your records have her as Jones but her birth surname was Lehane." Joyce said.

"The know-it-all and the troublemaker? What ya want them for?" Miss Volus said, then after a pause. "Will ya be taken them today?"

"If you would please call them." Joyce said patiently. "I have some final testing that needs to be done before the decision can be made."

Miss Volus grumbled for a second before hauling herself out of the chair and moving to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hailey. Faith. Down here now." She practically bellowed, before moving back into the room and making to sit down again.

"I will need to talk to the girls alone." Joyce said, before Miss Volus could sit.

Miss Volus looked like she was about to object, until Joyce put her hand on the Attaché Case casually. Miss Volus grumbled as she left the room, with just an 'in there' half growled at the two girls who had come down the stairs. Both girls were in their mid-teens but there the resemblance ended. Jennifer Hailey was a small girl, almost fully grown at five foot, with blondish hair held back in a loose ponytail, a simple if well suited outfit of jeans and a plain white t-shirt and an intelligent glint in her eyes. Faith Lehane on the other hand looked more wild, with an arrogant stance. She was dressed in tight black jeans, a black tank-top and boots. Her hair was almost pitch black and she had a barbed-wire tattoo around her bicep.

"Miss Hailey, Miss Lehane. Please take a seat." Joyce said, getting a look of surprise from Faith at the use of her real Surname. "Neither of you are in trouble."

Jennifer and Faith sat down across the table from Joyce, a seat separating the pair, with looks of confusion.

"I represent a private boarding school called Sheridan Academy. It is an exclusive school which only admits students on Scholarships, and you are both second stage candidates." Joyce explained.

"I can see why she's being considered." Faith said, indicating to Jennifer. "But why the hell do you want me? My school grades are nothing special."

"It is not an academic scholarship. We are looking for a very specific kind of student, not just academically brilliant." Joyce explained. "To that end, I have a test that you need to take. This is not the kind of test that has specific answers. Take as long as you need, and answer as fully and honestly as you can."

Joyce passed them both the test and pens, then sat back and watched their reactions to the questions. A lot of the test was decision making and visual analysis, but there were a few questions that were really designed to both get a feel for the person's psyche and weed out unsuitable candidates. She noted when each of them got to the first of these 'special' questions when first Jennifer then Faith frowned slightly. The question seemed deceptively simple, in that it was a picture, but the question was 'What is missing?". Without any further frame of reference it was designed to help map the candidate's associative connections, what they expected to be there, because there was nothing missing from the picture. But that was not the tough question.

When Jennifer got to that question she blinked a few times, then set about methodically re-reading the question, thinking she must have miss-read it. Faith simply dropped her pen in shock. The question detailed two equally horrible options, both of which resulted in numerous innocent casualties but they both also had minor positive effects as well, and then asked the candidate to pick one and explain why they chose that option. It did not really matter which option they chose, it was part that they were able to make the choice, and part the reason they made the choice they made. This was the question that had excluded the one candidate so far that had failed. He had failed because he had refused to make a choice.

By the time they were finished, both girls looked physically and emotionally drained, while Joyce calmly collected the tests.

"We will have these reviewed and shall inform you if you have been accepted in the next few days." Joyce said as she stood, leaving two drained but excited girls and a confused landlady behind.

* * *

Seventeen recruits stood in the foyer of the primary mansion of the new Sheridan Academy, including the original four recruits. The recruits were a diverse group. The original four, who had been learning for some time under the tutelage of the Anla'Shok, were standing at attention in the black clothes that had become their training uniforms. The rest were in whatever they had been wearing when they had arrived, with their baggage at their feet and their Academy briefing packs in their hands. Faith and Jennifer Hailey were standing next to each other in the rough ranks that they stood in, seemingly trying to take comfort in something familiar even though they had never gotten on. Most of the recruits were from disparate parts of the US, but there were two more from Sunnydale, two of the three candidates that Cordy had identified. One person who was not in the recruit intake was Kendra. The Jamaican Slayer had decided that her primary duty was to protect the Hellmouth, though she would work closely with the Anla'Shok in their protection of Sunnydale.

In the end the Anla'Shok had purchased not one but five mansions that had been a small gated community, or rather was going to be a small gated community until the developer had been eaten by some Vampires when the mansions were almost complete. The Academy had picked all five of them up for a steal from the bank that held the deeds. Only the mansion that was to be the main building was completed, the other four were still being remodelled to their exacting specifications. The completed mansion, now called Sheridan Hall, was designed as the main school building, with the classrooms, a training gym, dorms for the new recruits and administrative areas. The other four buildings, called Delenn Hall, Sinclair Hall, Ivanova Hall and Cole Hall, would become the dorms and training areas of the trained Rangers, with each Hall being assigned to the crew of a specific White Star.

The eight staff were standing in a line at the base of the grand staircase, watching the recruits. The four Shok'na stood in the middle of the row of teachers, with Buffy and Xander in the very centre, Willow next to Xander and Cordy next to Buffy. The other four teachers were 'civilians'. One was naturally Giles, who would be teaching basic research skills, English, basic Minbari and basic Staff fighting. There was also Joyce, who was part ethics teacher, part den mother and part disciplinarian. The third teacher was a retired Army Colonel called Watson who had settled down in Sunnydale after his retirement and had found out about the 'nocturnal residents' the hard way. His job was primarily to get the recruits into peak physical condition and to teach them how to think in combat situations, both in regards to the immediate problem and the larger strategic situation. The last member of staff was Buddhist Nun, a small Asian woman who seemed to radiate calm and serenity, but was also a master at several forms of martial arts. Her job was to teach the necessary spiritual balance as well as martial arts. The four Anla'Shok would teach all the other necessary areas, such as technical skills; the advanced maths needed for the navigation of the White Stars and a plethora of other skills.

Buffy stepped forward from the line of teachers, immediately gaining the attention of the recruits.

"Welcome to the Sheridan Academy. My name is Shok'na Summers. To my left are Shok'na Chase, Doctor Giles and Lecturer Summers. On my right are Shok'na Harris, Shok'na Rosenberg, Colonel Watson and Sister Li." Buffy said. "You have all been selected for attendance at this Academy as you posses a number of physical and psychological attributes that we are specifically looking for. While you are here, you will be expected to maintain a very high standard in your classes and will be prepared for what, for the moment at least, I can only describe as one of the most amazing adventures around."

Buffy paused and looked around at the recruits. Like her fellow Shok'na, Buffy had gone though the dossiers and test results of all of these recruits. Some were excited, some nervous and some down right worried. The worried ones were the ones who did not have stellar academic grades.

"I know some of you have not had good academic records at public schools." Buffy continued. "That does not matter here, though you will be provided all the assistance you need in those areas. Our classes have a different focus. We will accept it if you genuinely try and fail. What we won't accept is not trying. Your classes will begin tomorrow morning at zero seven hundred. I will now turn you over to Lecturer Summers who will show you to your dorms."

Buffy stepped back and Joyce lead the students up the sweeping main staircase to the dorm rooms above.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

A year had passed since she had come to the Sheridan Academy and, for the first time in her life, Faith was happy. Once she would have said she was contented, but thanks to Sister Li that word had a whole extra level now that Faith could not really apply to herself. She did not really buy into the whole spirituality and reincarnation thing that Sister Li was always talking about, but she had learnt a lot from the little Nun, in particular how to control some of her wilder impulses that had always gotten her into the really deep trouble.

That was not to say that Faith was now the picture of control and virtue. She still smoked, danced and would enjoy a tumble with anyone who was willing, if she got the chance, but she no longer went out looking for trouble or was a 'get some and get gone' kind of girl anymore. She had more productive outlets now, like Fighting Pike training with Doctor Giles or one of the Shok'na, or those wickedly hard but somehow exhilarating wilderness survival exercises with The Colonel.

"Faith." Jennifer Hailey said from the door. "Come on, the new intake has arrived."

Faith jumped off the bed in her room and, with a glance in the mirror, adjusted her uniform and the pin on her collar that indicated she was a Cadet Sergeant before she joined Jennifer and made their way down the hallway. It still amazed her that she had been given the responsibility, and was equally unsurprised that Jennifer had also been made a Cadet Sergeant. The sole reason that Faith had made it this far, and gotten the responsibility rested with a single person, Lecturer Summers. Speaking of which…

"Hello, Misses Summers." Both of the Students said together.

"Ladies." Joyce said. "Jennifer, I have been talking to Shok'na Rosenberg and Shok'na Chase. They are quite impressed with your latest paper on N Dimensional Physics."

"Thank you." Jennifer said with a blush.

"Faith, despite your little indiscretion last week, your name is being mentioned positively amongst the Shok'na." Joyce added.

Faith ducked her head in shame. She knew she had made a mistake and had owned up to it and taken her punishment, mostly because she did not want Joyce Summers, the woman who had given her this opportunity, to be disappointed in her.

Down the end of the corridor, near the stairs down to the main lobby, the four Shok'na passed, with Shok'na Harris waving for the two Cadets to join them.

"Excuse us, Misses Summers." Jennifer said.

"Of course, the new intake." Joyce said.

Joyce smiled to herself as the two dissimilar Cadets left, noting how the two young women had become friends despite their initial animosity.

* * *

"Alright everyone, this is no standard training patrol." Xander Harris said.

The group was made up of the four Shok'na, Kendra and the initial group of recruits, which had been reduced to sixteen. They were standing in the middle of a deserted street, huddled around the hood of the Academy's minibus on which a map was laid out. The one recruit that had the medical issue, that they had taken the chance on, had deteriorated and was no longer up to the physical rigors of an Anla'Shok, but he was not terminal so he was being trained to become part of the future training Cadre.

With the regular patrols, at first by the Shok'na and Kendra and later with teams of Cadets lead by the Shok'na, the nights around Sunnydale were much safer with the Vampire population having plummeted and the Demon population were either leaving the Hellmouth or keeping a low profile.

"What's the situation?" Jennifer Hailey asked.

"There is a new group of Vampires in town, based in this area." Cordy explained, indicating on the map. "These Vampires are different though. They are well trained with Swords and Daggers, and started as a Vampiric Duelling Club in the Fifteenth Century. There is some evidence that they may work for a Demon."

The recruits, like the Shok'na, were dressed in Anla'Shok uniforms and were all equipped with Minbari Fighting Pikes. Kendra was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a dark top and was armed with a blessed sword which was once wielded by a Virtuous Knight that defeated a great Demon, and as such should be almost as deadly to Vampires as the Fighting Pikes were. All the recruits were shaping up well in their Anla'Shok training, standing with confidence, but not arrogance, and paying close attention to what they were being told.

"We are going to split up into five teams." Xander ordered. "We will search the target area from the outside in, search pattern Gamma Six. My team will start here; Summers' team will start here; Rosenberg's Team over here; Chase's Team in this area; and Kendra's team will begin there."

Xander then rattled off which Recruits would be in each team, assigning three Cadets to each team; with Faith to his own team while Jennifer was assigned to Cordy's team, with the exception of Willow's team which had four recruits.

"Don't try to take them one on one if you can avoid it. Try to team up on them, and if you get into trouble, step back and let your team leader take over." Buffy said. "And for Valen's sake, watch out for civilians. The area should be clear but don't take any chances."

The five teams split up and began their patrol sweeps. Thanks to the Vampire Cult's origin as a Duelling Cult, during the patrols the Vampires came at the groups one at a time, making it a tense patrol with an ambush always waiting just around the corner, but also allowing the Cadets to practice teamwork and rotate out of the fight so none of them became exhausted. During the search pattern, Kendra's team came across the body of a man in a nice suit who had been run through by a sword and drained, which they reported to the other groups.

In the end the patrols managed to find the lair of the Vampire Cult and their corpulent Demon boss who, believe it or not, was sitting in a Valan Damned hot tub. With each group gathered together in a defensive circle, the attacking Vampires were quickly defeated, leaving only the Demon. Jennifer Hailey came up with the idea of breaking off one of the narrow, high pressure gas pipes and lighting it with one of Faith's ubiquitous cigarette lighters used it to incinerate the Demon, before Faith sealed the end of the pipe closed with a well placed strike from her Fighting Pike.

* * *

The four Shok'na stood around a table a private section of Sheridan Hall, each looking down at the data-pad in front of them displaying data from White Stars 11 and 43. Xander's White Star 11 was located in orbit around Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, while Buffy's White Star 43 was in Mars orbit. Willow's White Star 22 was hidden from the event by the body of the Moon, while Cordy's White Star 19 was in a hanger in Sunnydale and powered down at the time.

"This is disturbing data." Willow said, pouring over reams of numbers on the data-pad. "This is clearly some form of FTL system but it does not match to any standard Jump Gate or Jump Drive signature. Not even Vorlon or Shaddow."

"At least it is not a Thirdspace signature. Thank Valen." Cordy added. "But I agree, this is worrying."

The sensors on White Star 11 had the best energy readings on the vessel that had entered the outer edge of the Sol System, somewhere out near Saturn, but White Star 43, due to its different relative position had gotten an image of the ship silhouetted against the ringed Gas Giant, a pyramidal design that was quite distinctive. The data suggested not only were whoever was operating this ship had developed a completely different method of FTL than the White Stars used, but also had a potential for powerful shields on their ship, another worrying development, though it was pointed out that the mass reading of the ship did seem to indicate that it was not as heavily armoured as would otherwise be expected, though of course that data was preliminary at best.

"So how are we going to deal with this?" Xander asked. "We are not ready if they prove hostile."

"What's the bear minimum to run a White Star in combat?" Buffy asked.

"A dozen, maybe ten in a pinch." Willow said. "We could field one White Star with the Cadets with shifts, two if we went with the minimum and no backups."

"Then we need to get the senior Cadets into advanced training." Xander said.

"That will eat into their stealth and surveillance training." Cordy observed.

"If they are hostile, then stealth and surveillance is pointless if they bomb earth." Buffy countered.

"Agreed." Cordy said with a sigh.

TBC…


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

A/N: There have been some comments around the uniforms for the Cadets. Firstly, the full Anla'Shok Uniforms, as seen on the show, are only used by the Cadets when on patrol at night, and by Xander, Buffy, Willow and Cordy on patrol and during formal occasions at the Academy. Normally the Cadets wear a stylish and modern uniform designed by Cordy, while the Shok'na either wear 'business attire' or clothes appropriate to the class, like exercise gear. The regular public would, under normal circumstances, never come into contact with anyone in the Anla'Shok Uniforms and would certainly not associate them with students at the new private Academy.

* * *

Alarms were blearing as the White Star took another hit. It veered around trying to track its target, only to almost collide with the enemy vessel and have to dramatically drop its speed. The White Star fired, but the entire salvo passed harmlessly by the enemy ship, hitting where the ship would have been two seconds later. While the White Star was focused on the enemy it had in front of it, a second enemy swept around from the side and fired a full salvo into its flank.

"Damage Critical." The computer announced.

"End simulation." Xander said with a sigh.

On the instruments and view screens the outside battle disappeared, leaving only a view of the massive warehouse that White Star 19 was housed in. Given that this was their first session in the White Star, and they had only been introduced to the, admittedly reasonably user friendly, systems a few hours prior, Xander was not expecting them to perform like fully trained crew.

"Ok, that was a simulation against two Narn Light Patrol Ships." Xander said. "A single White Star should have been able to easily defeat them without a scratch. Who wants to tell me where they went wrong? Anybody?"

"I don't know why, but I always seem to plot courses that would hit the enemy rather than follow them." Faith said from pilot's seat.

"Correct, Faith. Timothy, you keep leading the target too much with the guns. Stella, you need to speak up more when on sensors, none of the other crew knew where that second Patrol Ship was. William, you need to be able to predict better the power outputs. A few times Timothy had to wait a half second to fire the guns, and in combat that can be the difference between life and death." Xander said, before pausing and looking around.

This was simply a combat drill, so there was no cadet at the Navigation or FTL Stations, though the FTL station would be manned by one of the Shok'na if the indication was that the Pyramid Ship was hostile. The three other essential stations were not on the Bridge, but were down in Engineering.

"Ok, let's mix this up. Faith, you take weapons. Stella, you take Helm. Timothy, you go Power Control and William, you take Sensors." Xander ordered. "Computer, start next simulation."

This time it was a trio of Centari Patrol Craft, and the Cadets did much better, ending the simulation with two of the Patrol Craft destroyed and the third crippled, but with the White Star crippled as well. While Faith seemed to fall well into the Gunnery role, though still with a lot to learn, the others did not seem as comfortable as the dark haired girl did with the guns.

* * *

"So, how are the recruits coming in the simulations?" Buffy asked.

Xander and Willow had been conducting the training simulations. It was almost four days since the unknown ship had appeared in the outer solar system, and some of the passive readings the White Stars had been getting indicated that they were probably performing repairs. Still, Xander and Willow had been running the advanced Cadets through the simulations at fast pace, rotating them through all the different stations.

"Faith Lehane is a natural with the weapons systems. She needs some practice when targeting specific systems, but has an innate grasp of relative velocities and intercepting trajectories. She does not even have to do the math, she can just tell where to fire to hit the target. Of course don't let her near the helm unless you want to ram the enemy because she does the same thing on course plotting." Xander said with a bit of a chuckle. "As for the other recruits, they are about where you would expect after a few days training. I can give you a list of who I would put where on the bridge, but they all would be pretty green."

"I agree with Xander, most of them would be adequate for the Engineering posts in an emergency, though I recommend Jennifer Hailey be assigned to Engineering. It does not matter which station, she is capable in all of them and soaks up the theory like…" Willow began.

"Like you do?" Buffy asked.

"Well, yeah." Willow replied. "If we needed to today, I would put her in charge of an Engineering Section. Another six months to a year of intensive training and she would be the match of any Anla'Shok Chief Engineer in the fleet."

That basically wrapped up the reports on the Senior Cadet's training. As Buffy began a report on how the new intake was settling in, one of the datapads beeped with an update from the White Stars, and Cordy picked it up to take a look.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it looks like our visitor has just jumped to FTL." Cordy reported. "And White Star 11 got a good data feed on its jump profile."

"We might be able to reconstruct and replicate that FTL method with our jump engines. I would have to analyse the data." Willow said. "But without knowledge of their navigation method, I would not recommend using it."

"Agreed." Cordy said. "I would also recommend getting the White Stars to plant Hyperspace Beacons marking Strategic Points within the Solar System. We know that beacons planted in Hyperspace can't be detected in Real Space without a jump point open, so we can use them for rapid redeployment within the Sol System."

"Then if we ever figure out the other FTL drive and navigation, we can plant Hyperspace Beacons as we go and we'll have the element of surprise." Buffy concluded.

* * *

"I know it is a bit overwhelming the first few weeks." Joyce said gently. "Now, tell me what is scaring you the most?"

"I just don't know if I can keep up with the work." The new Cadet said.

"What exactly about the work is bothering you?" Joyce asked, noticing out of the corner of her eye a slowly blinking red light.

With a slow and clam motion, she reached out and pressed a button on her desk. The slowly blinking light indicated that someone wanted to talk to her but it is was not urgent. It took another half an hour for her to talk the new Cadet through his issues. She escorted the Cadet out and then went to the Staff Room to find out who was after her, and found Giles sitting there with a cup of Tea.

"Hello Rupert." Joyce said. "Were you after me? I was just dealing the issues of one of the new intake."

"That's fine, Joyce." Giles said. "I was merely wondering if you were free for dinner tonight."

Joyce simply smiled at that. Much to Buffy's embarrassment, Joyce and Rupert had become close over the last eighteen months, but the two adults were discrete enough not to let it interfere with their work and did not overtly display their affection while at the Academy. Buffy, influenced by the Shok'na personality, had taken their relationship in her stride, though she did spend a fair amount of time at the Academy in order to supervise the Cadets at night.

"I would like that." Joyce replied. "Should I cook or are we going out to eat?"

"Neither." Giles replied. "I will be cooking."

"Should I be worried?" Joyce said with a laugh, which got a head shake from Giles.

"Seven o'clock?" Giles asked.

TBC…


End file.
